{"id":536,"date":"2010-06-04T11:05:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-04T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/06\/pretty-boy-floyd\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:05:20","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:05:20","slug":"pretty-boy-floyd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/06\/pretty-boy-floyd.html","title":{"rendered":"Pretty Boy Floyd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m working on a sermon on theft, and well one thing led to another, and I ended up listening to Woody Guthrie\u2019s \u201cBallad of Pretty Boy Floyd.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nNow, I\u2019m inclined to think Pretty Boy was a sociopath. But for Guthrie he becomes a stand in for those who suffered at the hands of the rich.<\/p>\nAnd stand up to the system.<\/p>\nIn that spirit I recall in my childhood how my grandmother, a native of Missouri, would tell me the James boys were really just folk persecuted by the bankers, who were the real villains\u2026<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a recurring theme in our culture.<\/p>\nAnd one with more than a seed of truth to it\u2026<\/p>\nAs Guthrie\u2019s song put it<\/p>\nAnd as through your life you travel Yes, as through your life you roam you won\u2019t never see an outlaw Drive a family from their home<\/p>\nThere\u2019ve been any number of covers. Personally I\u2019m partial to the one by the Boss.<\/p>\nBut here\u2019s another by the Byrds dressed up with a scene from a movie\u2026<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Hj-HVL5pGdA\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Hj-HVL5pGdA<\/a>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/33904114-1633215689880937567?l=monkeymindonline.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m working on a sermon on theft, and well one thing led to another, and I ended up listening to Woody Guthrie\u2019s \u201cBallad of Pretty Boy Floyd.\u201d Now, I\u2019m inclined to think Pretty Boy was a sociopath. But for Guthrie he becomes a stand in for those who suffered at the hands of the rich. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Pretty Boy Floyd<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm working on a sermon on theft, and well one thing led to another, and I ended up listening to Woody Guthrie's "Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd."Now, I'm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/06\/pretty-boy-floyd.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pretty Boy Floyd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I'm working on a sermon on theft, and well one thing led to another, and I ended up listening to Woody Guthrie's "Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd."Now, I'm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/06\/pretty-boy-floyd.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-04T11:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-01T19:05:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/33904114-1633215689880937567?l=monkeymindonline.blogspot.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/06\/pretty-boy-floyd.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/06\/pretty-boy-floyd.html\",\"name\":\"Pretty Boy Floyd\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-04T11:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-01T19:05:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"I'm working on a sermon on theft, and well one thing led to another, and I ended up listening to Woody Guthrie's \\\"Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd.\\\"Now, I'm\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/06\/pretty-boy-floyd.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/06\/pretty-boy-floyd.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/06\/pretty-boy-floyd.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pretty Boy Floyd\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. 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